Facts I Needed to Know.

It has been an extremely interesting few days here.  I have learned so much that I didn't understand or know before.  First, we have been visiting a little family that lives in what can only be described as a hovel.  There is trash everywhere and about half the time they are so drunk they are either loving you or fighting you.  I went there again this week because we saw them on the street in a nearby town, drunk again.  They asked us to take them home and my first thought (shame on me) was to say we couldn't and to worry about who would see us.  My next thought was that they are God's children too and we were invited there in the first place by a family member who loves and cares about them.  We loaded them up in the car and drove them home at which time she grabbed me by the hand and said, "Come on woman!" and so I followed.  Inside she gave me some flowers woven of flax leaves that she had been saving as a gift for me.  Why?  Because I took them some carrot cake which they "portioned out" and ate over several days because no one ever brings them anything.  On our way home Ken's comment was, "The whole have no need of a physician."

On Sunday we met a man who is in heart failure.  We were a members last attempt at getting this man to listen to something about the church.  He has many friends within the church but she is the only one who has ever really challenged him to "Come Unto Christ".  He told us many stories of war.  He was in the army for 30 years in Malaysia, Viet Nam and elsewhere.  He was so gentle and kind.  He had many mormon friends from boyhood and his father had been LDS.  He said something about the mormon kids being the ones he wanted to be with and I asked him what drew him to them.  He seemed to think on that.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with him and my prayers for God to lead us to those who need us were answered when he held his hands out with the palms a couple of inches apart and said,  You have opened the door this much."  We left him a Book of Mormon and a Finding Faith in Christ video and a promise to come back and see him again.  His wife gave us avocados.  Should we keep on trying?

On the beach today we met a man who told us an almost unbelievable story.  I had never heard of this before but  know it is true.  He was put on a boat in England at 14 months of age.  He was given a phony name and listed as an officer in the armed forces.  When they reached New Zealand, he was put off the boat with lots of other children.  Their parents were making a valiant effort to save their lives or they were just taken without consent and put on the ships.  Their identities became lost aided by the people here and even the armed forces and police.  Hundreds of children were left in various places with nothing and no one.  He said, "I am 67 years old and I do not know who I am.  I have been trying to do some searching for years and have found nothing.  Someone told me to contact the "Mormons"."  We were  able to say, "We have a genealogy center right here in Timaru at our meeting house."  He was tickled to know that and said he would go and see if they could help him.

Today we met with some Samoan saints who are at the polytech going to school for 15 weeks.  He is a high councilman at home in Samoa.  She is a less active member.  As we talked, it became very apparent that she had little understanding of the church into which she was baptised.  He, while he had more understanding, still has the idea that it is better to have Samoan wards, Tongan wards, Maori wards etc.  While I agree that it might be better to have access to those languages, one thing we need to remember is this.  This is a worldwide church.  It is not assimilated into other cultures but rather, other cultures become a part of what this is, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The church becomes the overriding culture.  That is why, when we come to Timaru New Zealand from Pleasant Grove Utah, we are still a part of a communtiy.  We become no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens in the household of God.  Thank you Paul, you are certainly right.

Are we affecting lives?  I know we are.  There may not be big changes and huge conversions but every life we touch is changed including our own.  I hope they are all for the better.

Reflections on 9/11 and More

Today I opened my facebook and saw some beautiful posts from many people I love.  It seemed a little weird to live 9/11 twice this year.  Once with the people of New Zealand yesterday and once with my US family and friends today.  I found that the people here reacted with the same kind of horror that we felt.  The horror was that this country that the whole world looks on for support in spite of their criticisms of us, was under attack.  There was total disbelief here as well as at home and there was still talk here of the effects that it has had on the world in general.

I found it a little disconcerting to read the commonplace sentiments expressed today on facebook.  There were people living life as usual as I reflected on events of the past.  There were also many who made comments about remembering that event and learning from it.  As I talked with the missonaries, it dawned on me that they were 8 or 9 years old at the time and though they were affected mostly by the pain of those around them, they really didn't understand (because of age) the total effect it had on the world and they still don't.  They see it from the perspective of a child.

I remember going to Venezuela in January after that.  We were told it might not be wise to go but we weren't ready to be put on a leash.  We were told not to wear our team uniforms for fear of targeting ourselves.  We wore them anyway.  I will never forget sitting in the Caracas airport wondering if we would get our leaders back as they took a couple of them away and if we would ever get home.  We literally had to pay our way out of that country.  They called it "exit tax", we called it exploitation.

I remember actually wanting to kiss the tarmack on arrival in Miami having missed all our original plane connections.  I remember 4 hours of sleep in a somewhat rundown motel.  I remember arriving at the airport for a 9 a.m. plane and being escorted through the Miami airport to an earlier flight as the loud speakers in the terminal blaired that the US Martial Arts team was coming through.  Do you think our heads were high?  You bet they were.

I don't know when I have been more proud to be an American.  Today I am still proud, even in Kiwi couuntry.  We still stand for something and it is recognized by many here and in other places.  They still look to us for leadership and support.  They adopt what we do and make it theirs.  Unfortunately, some of those things are not things to be proud of.  Amanda, there are still people that believe in the things the United States stands for.  They still want to follow.  Our job then is to give them something worth following even if it is just through one simple person at a time.

Here I am in the Land of the Long White Cloud, still proud to stand tall and be an American.  Here, I am still looked at with a mix of curiosity and admiration.  Then I wore a blue uniform with United States Martial Arts Team emblazoned on it.  Now I wear the uniform of a Mormon Missionary and a badge that declares that I am.  It is my job and yours to return that pride, that standard to the world, that Title of Liberty that stands for the only place on earth where the gospel could have been restored.  We must make it again, the place the whole world looks to for guidance and direction.  We can do it, one bit at a time.  Stand tall, even when you stand alone.  You never know who is watching.